Friday, May 8, 2009

Something I'll miss......

I had one of those moments the other day. As is Mike's habit, he nudged me awake to read something to me from what he was reading.

What can I say? That is one of those marital annoyances. His usual genre is War Literature, specifically Obscure Battles of World War II. As I know very little about this conflict, they MAY not be obscure to everybody but then, I'm the audience. And as the nudge comes from the I-Couldn't-Sleep spouse and is delivered to the But-I- AM-Asleep-And-Don't-Care-About-This-Battle spouse, my usual reaction is a groan, moan, eye-roll, some other juvenile response.

However, when I got the nudge the other night, as I started to slip into habitual behavior, it dawned on me that THIS is something I'll miss. I will not have my sleep disturbed by midnight oral reading.

Also, his choice of reading has changed. His stack of books are now the Great Lives series by Chuck Swindoll. He finished Jesus and is in the middle of David.

Swindoll quoted an article by Tony Snow, the commentator/broadcaster who died last year after battling colon cancer. After he finished, he said, "I wonder how I could read the whole article."

Well, I'm not too swift but I DO know a thing or two about on-line research so I fired up the computer, typed in "Tony Snow" and "Cancer's Unexpected Blessings" found the article and printed it out. It was the middle of the night and by now the hub had drifted off so I just lay it among his reading.

The next morning, he was sitting in the lounger reading it. He asked me to sit down, took my hand and read it to me. 3 pages singled-spaced. It took a long time.

And I knew and know, THIS I will miss.

Now, if I knew how to link, this would be the place. But I haven't had that lesson yet so let me encourage you to google what I googled and read this eloquent piece of writing.